Missing Star
by Darkwraith
Summary: When Slippy's sister goes missing, he is overcome with guilt and grief. Meanwhile, she has issues of her own to deal with. Prequel. Somewhat AU. Post SF64. Rated T for situations.
1. Desent Into Darkness

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Star Fox, or any recognizable characters or vehicles.

**Descent Into Darkness**

Fox wandered through the corridors of Great Fox, looking for Slippy. He didn't want to admit it, but he was very worried about his friend. Ever since their last trip to Corneria two days ago, Slippy hadn't been himself. As he walked through the ship, Fox pondered the events that led up to his friend's unusual behavior.

_While exploring the space around Sector Z, the Star Fox team received an urgent message from General Pepper. The general informed them that Beltino needed to talk to Slippy face to face. Upon ending the message, Fox ordered Rob to turn the Great Fox around and head back to Corneria. When they arrived, Beltino was waiting for them just outside the military base. Slippy walked into the base with him, while the rest of the team waited just outside Great Fox. When Slippy returned some time later, he seemed really shocked and upset. When they asked what was wrong, he just shook his head and walked into the ship._

Slippy had locked himself in his quarters and refused to come out. When he finally did emerge from his quarters, he went out of his way to avoid everyone. _'And now, I have another reason to worry about him,'_ Fox thought.

Fox walked into the rec room, hoping Slippy would be there, maybe working on some mechanical device. The room was empty, save for Peppy who was sitting in a chair in the far corner, reading a book. As Fox was turning around, he heard Peppy ask "what's up, Fox?" Fox barely looked over his shoulder as he said "nothing," and started to walk out the door.

Peppy wasn't fooled by Fox's statement. Before Fox could leave, he cried "wait!" When Fox turned around, Peppy said "come sit down and talk to me." While Fox walked over to the chair next to his mentor, Peppy sat the book down on a nearby table. "What do you want, Peppy?," Fox asked as he sat down. "I want to know what's wrong," Peppy replied sternly, "and don't tell me 'nothing' because I know it's a lie." Fox sighed. "Alright," he said in a resigned tone, "I'm really worried about Slippy." Peppy reached over and put a hand on the young leader's shoulder. "I know, Fox," he said soothingly, "we all are." For a few moments, Fox just sat there, giving Peppy his most serious look. "I'm not sure, Peppy, but I think that Slippy has stopped eating," the young red fox said in his most serious voice, "I don't know what to do for him." At that, Peppy jumped out of his chair. "What?," he cried, "what is that kid doing?" Peppy gave Fox his most fatherly look. "Go find Falco and have him help us look for Slippy. Look _everywhere!" _Fox, glad for once that someone else was taking charge of the situation, jumped up and ran out the door, while Peppy ran for the hanger where he figured the young frog might be.

Slippy was sitting in the back of the hanger, sandwiched between the Landmaster and the Blue Marine. He felt as if he was slowly being torn apart. He didn't know that it was possible to feel so horrible. He knew his friends must have been really worried, but he didn't, _couldn't,_ care. He was hungry, but he cared less about eating than he did about being with his friends. All he could think about was the conversation he'd had with his dad two days ago...

_Slippy was confused as he followed his father into the base. Beltino seemed really upset and tense, and Slippy had no idea why. Beltino quickly led his son into an empty conference room and shut the door. "Sit down, son," he said in a strained voice, "I'm sorry, but this won't be short." "What's going on, dad?," Slippy asked, starting to worry. Beltino sat down across from his son, and looking him in the eye, said, "I'm afraid it's about your younger sister, Violet." Slippy jumped out of his chair, shocked. "Violet? What happened to her?," he cried, remembering the day, six months ago,when she'd left Corneria in her custom-built ship, the _Starsong, _on a scientific mission that was meant to discredit rumors that Andross had collaborated with another intelligent species; a war-like species, when he designed his weapons. Although both Slippy and Beltino had tried to discourage her, in fact, Slippy got into a huge argument with her about the mission, Violet had replied that the safety of the Lylat System was far more important than her own safety, and she left, alone, to search for other intelligent beings. Beltino sighed, and said "your sister has been in regular contact with Corneria until recently. Her latest update is weeks overdue. I learned of this only today. Apparently, they wanted to make sure that her latest transmission wasn't just delayed before worrying us. If she _had_ sent her overdue message on time, we would have received it by now." Beltino paused to let his words sink in. "So, when did she send the last message we received?," Slippy asked, the hard edge of panic in his voice. Beltino hesitated before answering. "Three months ago, as she was entering a large planetary system that she thought might contain an inhabitable planet." Slippy started hyperventilating. Violet would've had more than enough time to make contact with any life-forms the system may have contained. "Did they pick up any sort of distress signal from _Starsong_?," Slippy asked desperately. Beltino shook his head sadly. "I'm sorry, son," he said, "but no one's heard anything from Violet. As of right now, your sister's being counted among the missing."_

Slippy pulled his knees up to his chest, wrapped his arms around his legs, put his head on his knees, and started sobbing.

As soon as Peppy entered the hanger, he heard the sound of someone crying. "Slippy?," he called as he followed the sound. He found the young frog curled up between the Blue-Marine and the Landmaster, crying. "What's wrong?," Peppy cried as he rushed up to his teammate. "Nothing. Leave me alone," Slippy moaned in response. Kneeling down, Peppy wrapped his arms around Slippy and held him. When Slippy calmed down, Peppy said, "now, tell me what's going on." Slippy shook his head and muttered, "it's just a family issue." Peppy sighed in exasperation. "Don't give me that, Slippy. We all know something's seriously wrong. Earlier, Fox mentioned to me that you've stopped eating." Slippy looked up at Peppy, shocked. "How did he find out about that?," he asked. Peppy gave Slippy his sternest look. "It doesn't matter. What _does_ matter is the fact that you've stopped eating altogether. That's really not good. You've got two choices: either you talk to us about what's going on and why you won't eat, or I'll _personally_ put you in the hospital until you start eating again and talk to someone." The expression on Peppy's face was so serious, Slippy knew full well he would do it. After a short pause, Slippy asked, "you know my sister left the Lylat system?" When Peppy nodded, Slippy muttered "what you _don't_ know is that I got into a huge argument with her shortly before she left. I didn't want her to go, but she insisted. So, I told her that if she went, she might as well not come back. I told her I hoped she'd get killed by a hostile force. I didn't really mean a word of it. I was just mad at her at the time, because she wouldn't listen to me. And, I didn't get the chance to apologize for my stupid comments before she left." Slippy paused, and Peppy got a sinking feeling in his stomach, although he couldn't say why. "Hasn't she been in contact with Corneria?," the rabbit asked. Slippy nodded. "She was. Until three months ago. The last time anyone heard anything from her was when she discovered a new planetary system. We should have heard something from her weeks ago. She's been listed as missing, assumed dead." At that, Slippy buried his head in his hands. Peppy held him tighter. "It's not your fault, Slip. I'm really sorry your sister's missing, but sitting here feeling sorry for yourself and refusing to eat is _not_ going to help the situation. I know it's really hard, but you need to be strong for your father. He's really going to need you now." Slippy moaned in response. Peppy stayed in the hanger with Slippy, until the young mechanic was ready to get up.

Later, after getting Slippy to eat something, Peppy rounded up the rest of the team, and told them about the situation. He expected Falco to make some smart-mouth remark, but the falcon was just as supportive of Slippy as Fox was. "Wow," Falco said, "that's horrible. I can't imagine what he's going through. Poor Slippy. I feel sorry for him." Fox nodded in agreement. "It must be _really_ hard for him, not knowing what's become of his sister. I remember when I lost my father. It was a really hard time for me, but at least, I knew his fate." Falco looked over at Fox, and said: "I think you handled that a lot better than Slip's handling the current situation." At that point, Peppy stepped in. "That may be true, but Fox didn't have to spend two days wondering what had happened to his father. Plus, Slippy told me that the last thing he'd told Violet was that he hoped that she'd get killed." That shut Falco and Fox up real quick. Fox and Falco stood there, the most exquisite expressions of shock, disbelief, and horror frozen on their faces. If the situation wasn't so serious, Peppy might have laughed at their expressions. After a few moments of total silence, Falco spoke up: "Whoa. I really hope she's alright, wherever she is..."

TO BE CONTINUED...


	2. New Discoveries

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Star Fox, Nintendo does.

**Author's Notes: **This chapter takes place right after Violet sent her last transmission. The chapter timeline is unusual because I initially planed to write this chapter as if Violet had already been staying on Earth for awhile, with a flashback illustrating her arrival, but I would've had to write most of the chapter as a flashback, so I decided to do it this way. Also, Borage is the common name for _Borago officinalis_, also called the starflower for it's star-shaped flowers.

**New Discoveries**

Having just sent her latest transmission home, Violet set out to explore the unknown system she'd found. During her exploration, she noted several interesting facts: the system contained two ringed planets, a true gas giant, and a red planet that reminded her of Titania, except it was small and unringed. Finally, two weeks after arriving in the system, Violet found what looked to be the only inhabitable planet: a small, blue planet, third in the system, that looked so much like Corneria, Violet was overcome by homesickness for several moments. _'If only I'd left Lylat under better circumstances,' _she thought, sadly. While she knew that Slippy very likely didn't mean what he'd said about her getting killed, her brothers words had hurt her more than if he'd pulled out a blaster and shot her. After several minutes of brooding over her brother's words, she positioned _Starsong_ to enter the planet's atmosphere, and began her descent.

As _Starsong_ descended, Violet briefly considered sending another message home. She changed her mind, however, when she realized that her message might be picked up by one of the satellites she'd seen orbiting the planet and redirected down to whatever intelligent beings lived there. Violet had decided early on in her journey that if she encountered a planet that might be inhabited, she'd slip down to the planet's surface as stealthily as possible, so as not to attract unwanted attention. She didn't want to be noticed until she landed and could get a feel for the being's attitudes towards herself and/or other beings. Contrary to what her big brother said, Violet had absolutely no intention of getting killed by some hostile species. For that reason, she decided to come down over what was obviously an ocean.

After passing through some high-altitude clouds, Violet noticed what looked like a series of islands. Considering the fact that far fewer beings would be likely to inhabit those islands, if those islands were even inhabited, than a continent, she decided that one of those islands would be the best place to land. Cutting back on the throttle, and banking, Violet began a slow spiraling decent towards the archipelago. After careful deliberation, she decided to land on the northernmost island. During her decent, she noticed that the islands featured lush vegetation and spectacular beaches. Focusing on the island she chose to land on, Violet noticed a small city near the water. Approaching low, she landed in what looked like a field northeast of the city, close to a house. While she didn't like to have to land so close to the alien civilization, Violet knew that landing further out would certainly draw unwanted attention, as there weren't any tall trees to conceal her ship. Despite all the care she took to avoid being noticed, Violet's arrival was noticed by two young humans.

Sixteen year old Borage Fielday and her younger brother Keith were tossing a football back and forth, when they heard what sounded like an aircraft, albeit one unlike any they'd ever heard before. "Wow, look at that," Borage said as the strange craft came into view, "whatever that is, it's definitely alien in origin." Keith just shook his head. He didn't believe in aliens, unlike his older sister, who firmly believed in their existence. As they watched the strange craft flying lower and lower, however, Keith finally had to admit, if only to himself, that Borage just might be right. Finally, the unknown craft landed, just behind their house. Borage was thrilled. "I can't believe our luck!," she exclaimed, "whoever they are, they landed right in our backyard!" Keith didn't say anything. All he could think about at that time was that alien movie he'd seen with his friends awhile back. Those aliens had wanted to kill humans, what did this one want?

Violet powered down her ship and got up to stretch her legs. After a few seconds, she walked over to the left side of her ship, where the hidden door was located. She typed in a code on a keypad, and the door slid open smoothly. Stepping out into the open air, Violet noticed two bipedal beings looking at her. They closely resembled Cornarians, except their light-colored skin was visible through their thin fur, with the only exception being the top of their heads, which were covered in thick, brown, fur of different lengths. Both were wearing colorful flower-print shirts, short pants which only covered their upper legs, and open shoes. For a few minutes, neither Violet nor the creatures moved. Than, the smaller of the two finally said, "As much as I hate to admit it, you were right."

Borage acknowledged Keith's comment with a slight nod, never taking her eyes off the lavender-colored alien frog that came from the spaceship. After several moments, she slowly approached the creature. "Aloha! Welcome to Earth!" Borage didn't know if the frog-creature understood English, but she figured she might as well greet the alien.

Violet was shocked that the creatures spoke Lylatian, but, on the other hand, communicating with these semi-furred creatures would be easier than she initially thought. Taking a few tentative steps forward, she said, "Earth? Is that the name of this planet?" "Yes," the creature said. "My name is Borage Fielday, and this is my younger brother Keith." Violet smiled in response. "My name is Violet," she replied, "and I'm a Cornarian, from Cornaria. So, um, what exactly are you?" Borage smiled and said, "we're Humans, and this island we're on is called Kauai. The city we live in is called Wailua, and the whole chain of islands is called Hawaii." "Wow," Violet replied, "I'd like to learn more about your people, as well as your culture and these islands. In return, I'd be more than happy to tell you more about my home system, including my home planet." Borage started to reply, but Keith spoke up first: "You're not going to kill us, are you?" Violet just shook her head, "I've come in peace," she said, "I have no weapons on me. Mostly, I've come looking for answers regarding a rumor back home." Keith opened his mouth to reply, but Borage quickly stepped in. "We'd be happy to answer any questions as best we can. But first, let us show you around." Violet nodded and went with her new companions into the city.


End file.
